By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — East St. John lost its school. Many of its players lost their homes, their possessions, any semblance of normal life. The Wildcats couldn’t watch film for a time; then it couldn’t watch on any kind of regular schedule.

They had to find a place to practice, a place to gameplan. The Wildcats lost their offensive coordinator, who resigned mid-season. East St. John saw its first game cancelled, its second game compromised when it could dress less than half of its roster, its third game against the nation’s top ranked team and its fourth against the top-ranked squad in Class 3A. Believing that they’d have to win district to reach the postseason after a 0-3 start, a district loss to Hahnville looked like it could be fatal.

And yet here they stand, likely one win away from improbably, amazingly clinching a postseason berth — and maybe even a share of the District 8-5A championship.

Their chance to earn that win comes Friday night, as East St. John hosts Bonnabel at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium.

East St. John (4-4, 3-1 sits at No. 31 in the Class 5A power rankings, according to KenRamsey.com. 32 teams qualify, though any districts that split a district championship will send two teams, which could bump a wildcard.

But a win figures to safely get the Wildcats to the dance, which is all East St. John coach Phillip Banko ever asked for.

“This is a playoff game,” said Banko. “Whoever wins gets in. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The celebration after a potential victory will be even more fierce if Destrehan can topple Hahnville. An East St. John win coupled with a Hahnville loss will net ESJ a split of the district crown.

Bonnabel (5-3, 2-2) will come into Keller on a high, however. The Bruins earned their signature victory this season, toppling Destrehan, 22-21, on a late Daniel Velasquez field goal.

The Bruins lost their district opener to Hahnville, 20-19, then lost 8-3 to Higgins before besting Ehret by six and then Destrehan. Bonnabel trailed by 14 before rallying past Ehret, and trailed by nine against Destrehan late in the third quarter.

East St. John then knows than no lead is safe.

The Bruins are a different team than earlier this season after making a midseason quarterback change, coach Reggie Rogers moving from Kevin Banks to Trevynne Pittman, a freshman who transferred from Destrehan this season.

Pittman completed 11 of 22 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns against his former team last week. He also threw an interception. With Pittman at the helm, Bonnabel is more pass-oriented than before; Banks was primarily a threat as a rusher. Darius Gardner leads the team’s stable of rushers.

“Their quarterback is new,” said Banko. “He’s been their guy over the last two games, and he’s had success getting it to their playmakers. And they’ve got a few.”

Bonnabel dealt a major blow to Destrehan’s postseason hopes and nearly did the same to Hahnville, losing by only one, 20-19 in the first week of district play. Its defense has yet to give up more than 21 points in any district game, and has done so just once all season.

“They’ve got a big front, with linebackers that can run,” said Banko. “We’ve got to find a way to move it on them.”

West St. John has some extra pep in its step these days.

The Rams have looked every bit the part of the Class 1A power it was expected to be in the preseason, besting each of its four District 9-1A foes with relative ease; only White Castle finished within even 19 points of West St. John, which is averaging 54.3 points per game on the back of its blistering, high-tempo offensive pace.

The Rams can already call themselves district champions after Friday’s 56-21 win at St. John-Plaquemine; the worst West St. John (5-3, 4-0) can do is split the title with White Castle or Ascension Catholic, each boasting one district loss.

But a Rams win over visiting East Iberville would render that moot and seal an outright crown for West St. John.

East Iberville (3-5, 1-3) comes in off of a 55-20 loss to Ascension Catholic. Last season, the Rams defeated East Iberville 65-8.

“Winning that district crown is important to us,” said West St. John coach Robert Valdez. “When you walk into our stadium, we’ve got the list on the wall of district champions and state champions. We’d like to add “2012” to that artwork.

“Our district usually represents well in the playoffs. We have a chance to accomplish one of our two primary goals on Friday night.”

Valdez said that the focus will be on getting out to a fast start.

“The big thing is that we can’t let our guard down. We don’t want to allow them to hang around and feel they can compete,” said Valdez. “We’ve got to set the tempo early. They’ve got a couple of guys that can really make plays, and for us, we need to make sure they don’t get a spark from them.”

The Rams were sharp on Friday — a repeat performance would mean the team heads into the postseason firing on all cylinders. Jeremy Jackson rushed 10 times for 128 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Rams. Austin Howard was razor sharp, completing 12 of 13 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for another. Kylum Favorite rushed 10 times for 45 yards and a score. Dontre Turner scored off of a blocked punt, and Keith Miller caught seven passes for 78 yards.